July 11, 2005 -- Firefighters responding to a Dumpster blaze in Queens late Saturday discovered a small explosive device in the burning trash, but rather than call in the bomb squad, they brought it back to the firehouse, police said.
After deciding it was a pipe bomb packed with black gunpowder, fire officials finally called in the cops, who rendered it safe. "They were lucky, but not smart," one stunned officer said of the Engine 320 firefighters on Francis Lewis Boulevard.
Police sources questioned the firefighters' brazen handling of a bomb "big enough to kill someone," noting that protocol would be to wait for the bomb squad.
Fire officials could not be reached for comment.
The device was found in a Dumpster behind a four-family home on 201st Street in Bayside, leaving residents there shaken.
"I don't know why anyone would want to bomb Bayside," said Roberta Hayden, 70. "This is a quiet neighborhood. It would have been pretty bad if it had blown."
Others said they suspected it was just kids playing a prank.
The bomb was found only days after a similar discovery closed a Long Island beach for two days.
A lifeguard out snorkeling off Tobay Beach in Massapequa found a bomb in the wreckage of a sunken ship Thursday.
Mistaking it for an anchor, the lifeguard brought it back to shore, where it was later diffused by the Nassau bomb squad.
A second bomb then was found in the wreck.
